geography / geology - Learning Ecosystems

Reflections on “Joel 2:23” — especially after passing various farms and fields this am [Christian]

On 09/20/2023, in Daniel S. Christian, geography / geology, global / globalization, Michigan, by Daniel Christian

Joel 2:23 — from biblegateway.com

Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

From DSC:
As I sit here with our youngest daughter, waiting for her choir practice/class to start, I’m thinking how fitting it is that I read this Verse of the Day from BibleGateway.com this morning. To get here, we went through several miles of farmland. Even before getting here, I had been reflecting (once again) upon what it would be like to be a farmer…hoping for a good harvest/crop year after year….depending upon God to send enough rain and sunshine and for the crops to do what they were created and designed to do.

I think we have lost much of our dependence upon God as many of us have moved off the farms through the last many decades now. Sitting behind computers is very different then tilling the soil, feeding the livestock, etc.

Anyway, I’m grateful for all of the farmers out there. Thank you for the work that you do. And I’m also grateful to the LORD for the good harvests. I thank Him often as I pass by the fields of corn, hay, wheat, soybeans, and more — or as I pass by the blueberry fields, the apple orchards, and even the few vineyards in the area. The older I get, the more I’m drawn to the soil. To working in the yard. To planting things. To taking joy when the flowering plant brings out new flowers again.

Thank. You. LORD.

Crops beginning to appear from the earth

We’re rolling out a bunch of small updates to improve the ChatGPT experience. Shipping over the next week:

1. Prompt examples: A blank page can be intimidating. At the beginning of a new chat, you’ll now see examples to help you get started.
2. Suggested replies: Go deeper with…

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) August 3, 2023

Gen-AI Movie Trailer For Sci Fi Epic “Genesis” — from forbes.com by Charlie Fink

The movie trailer for “Genesis,” created with AI, is so convincing it caused a stir on Twitter [on July 27]. That’s how I found out about it. Created by Nicolas Neubert, a senior product designer who works for Elli by Volkswagen in Germany, the “Genesis” trailer promotes a dystopian sci-fi epic reminiscent of the Terminator. There is no movie, of course, only the trailer exists, but this is neither a gag nor a parody. It’s in a class of its own. Eerily made by man, but not.

? Trailer: Genesis (Midjourney + Runway)

We gave them everything.
Trusted them with our world.
To become enslaved – become hunted.

We have no choice.
Humanity must rise again to reclaim.

Images: Midjourney
Videos: #Runway
Music: Pixabay / Stringer_Bell
Edited in: CapCut pic.twitter.com/zjeU7YPFh9

— Nicolas Neubert (@iamneubert) July 26, 2023

Google’s water use is soaring. AI is only going to make it worse. — from businessinsider.com by Hugh Langley

Google just published its 2023 environmental report, and one thing is for certain: The company’s water use is soaring.

The internet giant said it consumed 5.6 billion gallons of water in 2022, the equivalent of 37 golf courses. Most of that — 5.2 billion gallons — was used for the company’s data centers, a 20% increase on the amount Google reported the year prior.

We think prompt engineering (learning to converse with an AI) is overrated. — from the Neuron

We think prompt engineering (learning to converse with an AI) is overrated. Yup, we said it. We think the future of chat interfaces will be a combination of preloading context and then allowing AI to guide you to the information you seek.

From DSC:
Agreed. I think we’ll see a lot more interface updates and changes to make things easier to use, find, develop.

Radar Trends to Watch: August 2023 — from oreilly.com by Mike Loukides
Developments in Programming, Web, Security, and More

Artificial Intelligence continues to dominate the news. In the past month, we’ve seen a number of major updates to language models: Claude 2, with its 100,000 token context limit; LLaMA 2, with (relatively) liberal restrictions on use; and Stable Diffusion XL, a significantly more capable version of Stable Diffusion. Does Claude 2’s huge context really change what the model can do? And what role will open access and open source language models have as commercial applications develop?

Try out Google ‘TextFX’ and its 10 creative AI tools for rappers, writers — from 9to5google.com by Abner Li; via Barsee – AI Valley

Google Lab Sessions are collaborations between “visionaries from all realms of human endeavor” and the company’s latest AI technology. [On 8/2/23], Google released TextFX as an “experiment to demonstrate how generative language technologies can empower the creativity and workflows of artists and creators” with Lupe Fiasco.

Google’s TextFX includes 10 tools and is powered by the PaLM 2 large language model via the PALM API. Meant to aid in the creative process of rappers, writers, and other wordsmiths, it is part of Google Labs.

10 Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing (July 2023) [Woodbury]

On 07/28/2023, in game-changing environment, generational differences, geography / geology, higher education, psychology, religion, society, sociology, staying relevant, United States, by Daniel Christian

10 Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing (July 2023) — from digitalnative.substack.com by Rex Woodbury
From Higher Education to AI Art, Therapy to Venture Capital Funding

The charts this week again cover a broad range of themes—

Confidence in Higher Education
Confidence in Institutions
AI Mania
Is Art Created by AI Still Art?
A Venture Capital Reset
The Highs and Lows of Threads
More Americans Are Living Alone
Therapy Goes Mainstream
Secondhand Explosion
A Climate Reckoning

Red Sox Turn Fenway Park into “Learning Lab” for Boston 6th Graders — from by Ira Stoll
“The key to unlock opportunity is education and hard work,” students are told at launch event

Students from the 6th grade at Nathan Hale School complete a “bingo challenge” as part of the Red Sox Hall of Fame stop on their guided tour of the Fenway Park Learning Lab.

Excerpt:

The six-stop tour has students learning history, geography, math, and science. Student visitors get baseball caps, t-shirts, and a backpack full of other souvenir items like baseball cards, binoculars, a calculator, and a pen. The most important piece of equipment may be a 40-page, seriously substantive workbook, developed with the Boston Public Schools, that students work their way through along the hourlong guided tour.

From DSC:
Very interesting.

Through Gripping Photos, Ryan Newburn Captures the Depths of Iceland’s Ancient Glacial Caves [Ebert & Newburn]

On 05/16/2023, in art, creativity, digital photography, geography / geology, photography, by Daniel Christian

Through Gripping Photos, Ryan Newburn Captures the Depths of Iceland’s Ancient Glacial Caves — from thisiscolossal.com by Grace Ebert and Ryan Newburn

Dozens of Photographers Gather For ‘100 For the Ocean’ to Support Marine Research and Advocacy

On 05/02/2023, in digital photography, geography / geology, photography, by Daniel Christian

Dozens of Photographers Gather For ‘100 For the Ocean’ to Support Marine Research and Advocacy — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes

The mounting human and environmental costs of generative AI [Luccioni]

On 04/17/2023, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, emerging technologies, geography / geology, society, the downsides of technology, by Daniel Christian

The mounting human and environmental costs of generative AI — from by Sasha Luccioni
Op-ed: Planetary impacts, escalating financial costs, and labor exploitation all factor.

Excerpt:

Over the past few months, the field of artificial intelligence has seen rapid growth, with wave after wave of new models like Dall-E and GPT-4 emerging one after another. Every week brings the promise of new and exciting models, products, and tools. It’s easy to get swept up in the waves of hype, but these shiny capabilities come at a real cost to society and the planet.

Downsides include the environmental toll of mining rare minerals, the human costs of the labor-intensive process of data annotation, and the escalating financial investment required to train AI models as they incorporate more parameters.

Let’s look at the innovations that have fueled recent generations of these models—and raised their associated costs.

Also relevant/see:

ChatGPT is Thirsty: a mini exec briefing — from BrainyActs #040 | ChatGPT’s Thirst Problem
Between the growing number of data centers + the exponential growth in consumer-grade Generative AI tools, water is becoming a scarce resource.

The 2023 Underwater Photographer of the Year Contest Dives into the Stunning, Heartbreaking Lives of Aquatic Creatures [Ebert]

On 02/15/2023, in art, creativity, digital photography, geography / geology, photography, by Daniel Christian

The 2023 Underwater Photographer of the Year Contest Dives into the Stunning, Heartbreaking Lives of Aquatic Creatures — from thisiscolossal.com by Grace Ebert & Co.

Image @ Kat Zhou/UPY2023

Image © Alvaro Herrero Lopez-Beltran/UPY2023

Genesis 9:12-16

On 01/11/2023, in faith, geography / geology, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian

Genesis 9:12-16

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
.

If you’re looking to recharge, consider this resource: “25 Best Parks In The United States” [Smith]

On 07/30/2022, in Emotion, face-to-face, geography / geology, health, ideas, learning spaces, parents/guardians, productivity / tips and tricks, society, United States, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

25 Best Parks In The United States — from htownbest.com by Anna Smith; with thanks to Apple Smith for this resource

Excerpt:

There’s something about national parks that make you feel so in touch with nature. It’s also a fantastic place to bond and spend time with friends and family over fun activities like hiking, swimming, fishing, and biking.

In this article, we listed down the best parks you can find in the country along with helpful descriptions to help you find the best ones for your needs and preferences.

This guide is for couples looking for a grand adventure, families that are looking for a fun vacation, hikers in search of their next trail, and just anyone who’s curious and wants to know more about the top national parks you can find here in the United States.

Bryce Canyon National Park; Image from: Utah National Park Trips Image from: Utah National Park Trips

How an Escape Room Is Building Students’ Digital Skills at Northampton Community College — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Excerpt of description of podcast:

We spoke with Beth Ritter-Guth, associate dean of online learning and educational technology at the college, to find out how the Learning Lab is engaging students, building digital literacy and providing valuable training in the job skills of the future.

Also see:

Five Concepts You Can Teach Through Geocaching — from freetech4teachers.com by Richard Byrne

Excerpt:

Geocaching is one of the things that I spend a good bit of time talking about in both my workshop and in my webinar about blending technology into outdoor learning. Geocaching is a great activity to do to get kids outside for hands-on learning experiences. Here are five things that you can teach through geocaching activities.

From DSC:
This next one may be useful for educators and/or parents, but it’s useful for pretty much all of us

Tip of the week: A great group packing tool — from Jared newman

Excerpt:

As an alternative to clunky spreadsheets or endless email chains, WhoBrings is a brilliantly simple way to figure out who’s bringing what.

Just type the name of your packing list into this free website, add some items, then share the link with the rest of the group. Anyone who has the link can then claim responsibility for an item or add new items to the list. You can also specify a number of units for any item—12 beach towels, for instance, or three packs of beer—and people can choose how many they’ll bring.

Also see:

Learning, doing, and teaching biology through multimedia — from MIT Open Learning
Producing multimedia for online courses involves lifelong learning

Beautiful!

On 04/25/2022, in art, creativity, digital storytelling, geography / geology, photography, by Daniel Christian

Spring reflection by Jaewoon U on 500px.com

Green tea garden by Jaewoon U on 500px.com

TKSST: The Kid Should See This | Smart videos for curious minds of all ages

Global Pandemics — from historyadventures.co with thanks to Andrea Boros for the resource

Excerpts:

Global Pandemics is “a cutting-edge, browser-based, digital learning experience—designed to enhance student understanding of the role of pandemics in world history. One year in the making, and involving a talented, interdisciplinary team from around the world—the new product features cutting-edge digital learning design, web animation, interaction design, and digital storytelling.”

This browser-based digital learning experience introduces multiple novel technologies, including:

3D Motion Design to Recreate History
Advanced Web Animation to Simulate Pathogens
Immersive 360 Panoramas of Historical Locations
Animated Historical Timeline & Maps
Choice-based Narrative Design
Interactive Original Historical Documents
Media-Rich Adaptive Assessments

Also see:

historyadventures.co

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is a climate disaster. Environmental groups have a fix. [Roach]

On 04/06/2022, in Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, geography / geology, by Daniel Christian

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is a climate disaster. Environmental groups have a fix. — from protocol.com by Sarah Roach
Ending proof of work would cut bitcoin’s carbon footprint by an estimated 99%.

Excerpt:

If bitcoin could just cool it with the whole “using copious amounts of energy to mine magic internet money” thing, that’d be great. That’s the message some environmental groups are putting out there as part of a new campaign pressuring the bitcoin community to clean up its act with a code change.

Greenpeace USA, Environmental Working Group and other organizations began a campaign called #ChangeTheCode this week in an attempt to turn up the heat on bitcoin investors. The cryptocurrency currently relies on a proof-of-work process that puts miners in competition with each other. That mechanism is used by miners to confirm and record crypto transactions, providing a greater level of security, but it also takes a heavy climate toll due to the amount of energy used and the associated carbon emissions. There are other options, including proof of stake, that use vastly less energy.

Learning Ecosystems

Reflections on “Joel 2:23” — especially after passing various farms and fields this am [Christian]

AI tools and features; plus AI’s ongoing impact (both positive and negative)

10 Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing (July 2023) [Woodbury]

Through Gripping Photos, Ryan Newburn Captures the Depths of Iceland’s Ancient Glacial Caves [Ebert & Newburn]

Dozens of Photographers Gather For ‘100 For the Ocean’ to Support Marine Research and Advocacy

The mounting human and environmental costs of generative AI [Luccioni]

The 2023 Underwater Photographer of the Year Contest Dives into the Stunning, Heartbreaking Lives of Aquatic Creatures [Ebert]

Genesis 9:12-16

If you’re looking to recharge, consider this resource: “25 Best Parks In The United States” [Smith]

Escape rooms, teaching through geocaching, and a great group packing tool!

Beautiful!

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is a climate disaster. Environmental groups have a fix. [Roach]

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